The ExoClock Project
A project to monitor the ephemerides of transiting exoplanets by the ARIEL Ephemerides Working Group.
CMHASD Coordinators: Martin Crow, Simon Dawes and Keith Rickard.
Due to chance alignments it is possible that planets orbiting other stars will move in front of their star with respect to our point of view, this is called an exo-planet transit, and if you know when to look these can be observed using amateur equipment by measuring the change in brightness of the star. These observations are scientifically important and members of the society collaborate with exoclock to produce improved timings of these events.
Members of the Society observe exo-planet transits either with their own equipment or with the Peter Hindle Telescope (16″ LX200) in the Dick Chambers Observatory.
Training Material
Part 1: Selecting an object
In this video we explore exoclock.space and how we can use it to select the most appropriate object to observe.
Part 2: Introduction to NINA
In this video we introduce NINA the software we will use to set-up our observation.
Part 3: Using NINA & AIJ
In this video you will see how we use NINA to observe exo-planet transits and how we use Astro Image J to check we have the right exposure.
Results
Below are the latest results from our members.
Scientific Papers Members have contributed to….
ExoClock project: an open platform for monitoring the ephemerides of Ariel targets with contributions from the public
ExoClock Project. II. A Large-scale Integrated Study with 180 Updated Exoplanet Ephemerides
ExoClock Project III: 450 new exoplanet ephemerides from ground and space observations.
Exoplanet Qatar 8b
Another exoplanet transit observed by Simon Dawes of Qatar 8b for the ExoClock project. Qatar-8b is just over a third of Jupiter’s mass (0.37) and is considered a “hot Saturn.” It takes less than four days to orbit its star, which is about 900 light-years from Earth. Simon said it was a tricky one to process, but the result came out very well with a depth almost identical to...
Exoplanet WASP-12B by Simon Dawes
Here is the latest exoplanet transit observed by member & trustee Simon Dawes for the ExoClock project. It is of WASP-12b a doomed EGG shaped planet. WASP-12b is a hot Jupiter that orbits so close to its parent star, it is being torn apart and it takes this sizzling gas giant alien world only 1.1 days to completely circle its parent star! The doomed planet is being eaten by its parent...
EXO-Planet Paper features observations from two members
Members Simon Dawes and Martin Crow have been named as contributors on a scientific paper published this week, Martin and Simon along with other amateur and professional astronomers have been observing exo-planet transits – each observation takes between 4 and 5 hours typically so is quite a commitment. Well done Mrtin and Simon and all the other amateur astronomers who submitted...
Exo-Planet HAT-P-30b
HAT-P-30b is a transiting hot Jupiter around a 1.25 solar mass star in the constellation of Hydra near the boarder of cancer. Martin Crow and Simon Dawes observed this exo-planet transiting its parent start part of the exoclock project, to refine transit predictions for the Aerial space craft wich will be observing exoplanet transits to learn more about these enigmatic...
EXO-Planet TrES-3b
Martin Crow observed this Exo...
Observation od EXO-Planet XO-2Nb
XO-2Nb is an exo-planet in Lynx it has an orbital period of 2.6159 days. Observed by Martin Crow as part of the Exoclock project. More info: ExoClock project https://www.exoclock.space/project And the paper that it relates to:...
Observation of EXO-Planet HAT-P-1b
HAT-P-1b is an exo-planet in Lacerta it has an orbital period of 4.4652968 days Observation bt Martin Crow as part of Exoclock project. More info: ExoClock project https://www.exoclock.space/project And the paper that it relates to:...
Observation of EXO-Planet HAT – P – 16b
HAT-P-16b is an exo planet in Andromeda with a period of 2.77596 days. Observed by Martin Crow as part of the ExoClock project More info: ExoClock project https://www.exoclock.space/project And the paper that it relates to:...